Claysaba
Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Baseshment
I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.
Jeff (actionrating.com)
Skip it – "When you get to the arrow, start running!" The "run of the arrow" is a torture game the Sioux played to give their prisoners a "running chance." Unfortunately, action buffs won't give this movie much of a chance. Rod Steiger plays an ex-Confederate who hates the U.S. and decides to become a Sioux. If you think this film sounds like "Dances with Wolves," you're right on the money. And like "Dances with Wolves," this western is slow and could have used a few more fight scenes. The "run of the arrow" scene is exciting, but it is the climax. And climaxes aren't supposed to come at the beginning of a movie. The biggest problem area is the sloppy quality of the scenes. The voices are dubbed poorly, the scenes are cut horribly, and the movie just flows badly, almost like parts are missing. Still, there are a few bright spots. A young, and super in-shape, Charles Bronson plays a pretty decent Indian chief. And if you can wait for it, the ending is very fitting.
bkoganbing
Among the films giving a realistic and three dimensional portrait of the American Indians this item that stars Rod Steiger is curiously overlooked. Run Of The Arrow is a story about Confederate veteran who goes to live among the Sioux after Appomattox.Like John Wayne's Ethan Edwards from The Searchers, Steiger doesn't believe in surrenders and won't accept the Union victory and domination over the south. But unlike Edwards Steiger's Clay O'Meara has no problem with the Sioux or any other Indians. He goes into their country and after passing a brutal initiation from the Indians with a little bit of help he's accepted into the tribe.Eventually the Union blue reaches the Sioux country and Steiger is part of the negotiating team and guides the cavalry to land where they will build a fort safe from Indian hunting grounds. Extremists on both sides make the peace impossible, H.M. Wynant for the Sioux and Lieutenant Ralph Meeker for the whites. Eventually Steiger makes a choice and he faces a most uncertain future.The Indians are nicely played albeit by white players such as Charles Bronson as the chief. Sarita Montiel of the Mexican cinema plays the Indian woman whom Steiger takes in wedlock. Brian Keith has a nice part as a sympathetic army captain. But who I would have liked to see more of are Olive Carey as Steiger's mother and Jay C. Flippen as the philosophical Indian scout who comes back to die among his people. I wish Flippen hadn't died so soon.A certain kind of cosmic justice is meted out to one of the cast at the conclusion. You'll have to sit and enjoy watching Run Of The Arrow to know what I mean.
Bardotsalvador
Idont like this movie , i saw this movie only because sarita montiel was in it , she play an Indian and some of the review said the pretty Mexican actress please She was born in Campo de Criptana in the region of Castile-La Mancha in 1928 as María Antonia Abad (complete name María Antonia Alejandra Vicenta Elpidia Isidora Abad Fernández). After her unprecedented international hit in Juan de Orduña's El Último Cuplé in 1957, Montiel achieved the status of mega-star in Europe and Latin America. She was the first woman to distill sex openly in Spanish cinema at a time when even a low cut dress was not acceptable.sarita was not Mexican and she became the biggest European star of the cinema after Brigitte Bardot and today she make fun of American she said back in the 50s the American were so ignorant they don't know the different between Spain and Mexico they don't even know where Spain was located,Sarita thank god went back to Europe and the rest is history, BY THE WAY BACK THEN SHE WAS MARRIED TO ANTHONY MANN
dougdoepke
Think Western and Rod Steiger doesn't come to mind. But producer-director Fuller needed a first-rate actor for his complex story. So the New York trained Steiger got the part and is quite good too. Though I don't buy him out-racing the powerfully built Crazy Wolf (Wynant). This is an excellent Western, expertly cast and wonderfully staged. In fact, some of the scenic shots resemble Frederick Remington landscapes. It's also a story of ideas. I like the way writer Fuller prepares us for O'Meara's (Steiger) act of mercy by having him cling to Christian beliefs though every other part of him has become Sioux Indian. Thus, when he shoots Lt. Driscoll (Meeker) to spare him further pain, we understand why. It's also the point at which O'Meara realizes he's inescapably American, Johnny Reb or not. On the other hand, why the Indian girl rashly saves O'Meara is never made clear. The movie's about alienation and belonging, and though I don't agree with all Fuller's points, he does get beyond the Western clichés of the period. Note, for example, how the tribe decides rather democratically whether to accept O'Meara as a Sioux. And though there are the usual plot contrivances to generate action, both peoples are shown as deserving respect.Too bad the movie's so obscure. It's as broad in scope (first-rate locations and large cast, including real Indians), and is more thoughtful than John Ford's celebrated cavalry trilogy. I suspect one reason for the neglect is the unfortunate releasing tangle when the scheduled RKO went suddenly belly-up. The film ended up being released by low-budget Universal who likely dumped it without much promotion; at least, I don't recall any fanfare at the time. Thus, this independent production slipped into underground obscurity. Still and all, Fuller's film can also be seen as an important step on the way to such counter-cultural Westerns as Ulzana's Raid (1972), Little Big Man (1970), and the bloody The Wild Bunch (1969). Nonetheless, significances aside, it's still a darn entertaining movie.
